Google lets iOS developers replace Apple map data with its own

New SDK gives access to vector data, but not turn-by-turn navigation.

In addition to releasing its own Google Maps app for iOS, Google is now offering up its improved, vector-based maps to iOS developers looking for an alternative to Apple's at-times flawed data. Developers can essentially replace Apple's native MapKit APIs with the Google Maps SDK for iOS, though integrating turn-by-turn navigation is still verboten.

Apple's native MapKit APIs originally gave iOS developers native access to the 2D map data supplied by Google in previous versions of iOS. However, Apple claimed that it needed to build its own mapping database in order to give iOS's Maps app improved features like efficient, high-resolution vector data, 3D "flyover" views, turn-by-turn navigation, and more. Apple replaced the backend mapping data in iOS 6 with its own data, and those changes were passed down to MapKit, and hence any app that used MapKit.

However, the quality of Apple's data has been mixed at best, and the various problems with Apple Maps were severe enough to warrant a public apology from Apple CEO Tim Cook himself.

Late Wednesday evening, Google released its own Google Maps app for iOS, which included many of the missing features Apple wanted for its own app, including vector-based tiles and turn-by-turn navigation. Now Google is allowing any iOS developer to use that same data via the Google Maps SDK. The license agreement for the SDK still prohibits its use for turn-by-turn navigation (see Section 10.2(c)(i)), but it gives developers access to Google's otherwise superior data store.

"The SDK features vector-based maps that load quickly, allowing users to easily navigate 2D and 3D views, rotating and tilting the map with simple gestures inside your app," Google Maps Senior Product Manager Andrew Foster wrote in a blog post. "Developers can also change the Google maps view to include information such as traffic conditions, and control camera positions in 3D."

Google has also created a custom URL scheme which developers can use to link directly to the Google Maps app if users have it installed, instead of embedding maps directly.